


Trakata

by Jedibrarian



Category: Star Wars Legends: The Old Republic (Video Game)
Genre: Fencing, Gen, Lightsabers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-01
Updated: 2020-07-01
Packaged: 2021-03-04 21:55:05
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 867
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25023523
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Jedibrarian/pseuds/Jedibrarian
Summary: Lightsaber practice with a side of Force philosophy, featuring SWtOR characters played by a couple of friends and me.





	Trakata

Nauri brought her practice-saber up at a slant, blocking the trainee’s blade. “So. Here’s the problem. Look at my stance. Everything in balance. 75 percent of my weight on the leading leg, knee just covering the toe from my vantage point, rear foot at 45 degrees to the front. That attack’s not going to land, and I have several choices for how to respond, but I’m not wasting any energy by bashing my opponent away. Right, Khes?”

“Right.”

“So, Khes, I want you to deactivate your saber now.”

“But-” her student wrinkled her nose, skewing the lines of her tattoos.

“Yes, I know. But they don’t. We’re fixing that.”

“Yes, Master.” the Padawan thumbed the switch on her hilt, deactivating the blade. In its sudden absence, the instructor’s body pitched pitched forward. Khes was forced to dance backward to avoid catching the saber across the bridge of her nose. The low-powered training blade wouldn’t cut, but if it connected, it would leave a raised, red welt and a ferocious sting.

“Thanks, Khes. Now, note that I didn’t move to counter. My feet haven’t even changed. But you saw what happened. She may as well have stuck that training blade in an express-courier tube and addressed the shipping label to her face. So, even if you’re operating under the assumption that you aren’t fighting a combat precog- which you shouldn’t because I’m one, she’s one, and most of you will be capable of that to some extent by the end of your training- and even if you’ve accepted that deactivating or shortening your blade for any length of time eliminates most of your options for responding to a countercut and you somehow are still sanguine about your chances of pulling trakata off in an actual duel, it’s hard to argue with simple physics.”

She nodded to Khes, who bowed from the waist and rotated back into the knot of students gathered on the Temple lawn. A low, dubious buzz rose from their ranks.

“Still skeptical? We’ll demonstrate then, at full speed. Cadem?” Nauri grabbed another of the low-powered practice sabers and lobbed it at his head. He caught it without looking up from his datapad.

Several students laughed or muttered as he got to his feet. A zabrak boy sneered and elbowed one of his fellows.

“Stow it, Spanios.” she strode forward and jostled him hard with her shoulder. “He may look like he uses his saber as a grooming tool, but he knows which end’s which. And from watching your Soresu pair-sparring this morning, I daresay he was more gentle with you than you deserved.”

She returned to the front of the group and squared off with Cadem. He bowed. She nodded in turn. She addressed the class while keeping her focus on her opponent. “I will bypass Cadem’s guard by deactivating and reactivating my saber, or he will prevent it.” His dark eyes held hers for a moment, uncertain. She replied, “Watch. And if you feel that either of us is shortchanging you on your learning experience by putting forth less than our best effort, I expect you to say so.”

They were still and silent for several moments. A few students fidgeted.

Several visibly jolted at the snap and roar of Nauri’s practice blade, held overhead as she launched herself at Cadem. His weapon intercepted hers, held horizontal at the level of his shoulders. Hers appeared to dissolve around it and reform on the other side. He hauled his saber hilt up to eye-level, and pressed forward. They disengaged.

“Thank you, Cadem. Now then.” Nauri turned to address her class, smiling through a pained squint. A long red slash flared out from the abbreviated vest she wore, starting at one collarbone and terminating on the other set of ribs. “I don’t think I can produce evidence any more convincing than that. That hurt like a motherkarker, pardoning my Huttese. With live sabers, I’d be in pieces. And Cadem, I’d be willing to bet I didn’t even touch you.”

“Give yourself more credit.” He smiled sheepishly, hooked a finger in his collar, and pulled it to the side. In among an impressive collection of scars, a matching wound showed at the juncture of his neck and shoulder.

Her eyes widened, and she broke into a grin. “Better than I expected. Which goes to show, the very best that you can expect out of that tactic is a sacrifice-play.”

She shook a few stray strands of hair out of her eyes, face suddenly serious. “Let’s be real. We’re Jedi. The time may come when you size up your options, and find that that sacrifice, or one like it, is what the moment demands. My duty to you all is to be certain that by the time you’re facing earnest fighting, you have all of the skill and savvy to know the difference between that and idiocy, and to answer that demand on your own terms.

She studied her students’ faces. Most, she decided, didn’t grasp the full weight of what she was trying to impart. Khes nodded, almost imperceptibly. She was learning. Cadem caught her eyes as he bowed before returning to his seat. He already knew.


End file.
